Professional sports

President Donald Trump talked to many U.S. pro sports leaders about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, saying he was looking forward to the resumption of competitions "as soon as we can." "I want fans back in the arenas," Trump said later in a briefing at the White House. ...

President Donald Trump talked to many U.S. pro sports leaders about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, saying he was looking forward to the resumption of competitions "as soon as we can." "I want fans back in the arenas," Trump said later in a briefing at the White House. ...

SYDNEY (AP) - Australia's triathlon world champion Mirinda Carfrae has found virtual reality competitions created to sustain sport amid the novel coronavirus outbreak have unexpected hazards. The three-time world ironman champion was competing against Jocelyn McCauley of the United States, Canada's Angela Naeth and Jeanni Seymour of South Africa in the inaugural Ironman VR Pro Challenge women's race when disaster struck...

Kobe Bryant is officially a Hall of Famer. And he has plenty of elite company in the 2020 class. Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash Jan. 26, and fellow NBA greats Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett headlined a nine-person group announced Saturday as the class of enshrinees into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame...

Kobe Bryant's resume has yet another entry to validate his greatness: He's now, officially, a Hall of Famer. And he's got plenty of elite company in the 2020 class, one that may be as glitzy as any. Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, and fellow NBA greats Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett headlined a nine-person group announced Saturday as this year's class of enshrinees into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame...

English Premier League players failed to reach an agreement on Saturday with clubs to take 30% pay cuts during the coronavirus pandemic, escalating a bitter public row as their union claimed the government would lose out on more than 200 million pounds (around $245 million) in tax...

MEXICO CITY (AP) - A former president of Honduras who was convicted in the FIFA soccer bribery scandal died in the United States on Saturday. Rafael Callejas governed Honduras from 1990 to 1994, but he was better known for soliciting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the wide-ranging FIFA soccer scandal over lucrative broadcast rights...

The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world: The grandmother of Baylor junior guard Moon Ursin has died in the New Orleans area after being infected with the coronavirus. Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey, selected Saturday as part of the 2020 class for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, said she has been in contact with Ursin and her family since getting a call from the player's mother...

NEW YORK (AP) - Breshad Perriman insists his late-season breakout last year was merely just a promising start. For him to live up to his own expectations. And, to finally prove the doubters wrong. "I think that was just a sneak peek of what's to come for this season and many other seasons past this season," the New York Jets wide receiver said. "I just feel like that was a tiny glimpse and I'm looking forward to building from that little run I had last season."...

Reaction to Saturday's announcement of the 2020 enshrinement class for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame: ------ "It's an incredible accomplishment and honor and we're extremely proud of him. Obviously, we wish that he was here with us to celebrate. ...

Nicole Sherry poked some holes in the turf at Camden Yards, cut the grass and then left the ballpark about the same time the Baltimore Orioles should have been wrapping up their season opener. "What a beautiful day it would have been for a ballgame," said Sherry, the head groundskeeper for the Orioles. "It was kind of surreal because I was thinking, 'Technically, this is opening day.'"...

A look at the newest members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, announced on Saturday: KOBE BRYANT Key stats: 25.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists per game in 20 NBA seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. Career accomplishments: Five-time NBA champion (2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010), 18-time All-Star, 2008 NBA MVP, No. ...

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (AP) - Tajikistan started a new soccer season on Saturday, joining a small group of countries around the world where play has continued despite the coronavirus pandemic. Istiklol Dushanbe retained the Central Asian nation's season-opening Super Cup on Saturday with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Khujand...

** Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett among 9 inductees into Basketball Hall of Fame. BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) - Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett among 9 inductees into Basketball Hall of Fame.

Anthony Davis didn't need to score big to control a game for Kentucky. He made that clear during the final performance of his freshman season. Coach John Calipari recalls the conversation Davis had with his teammates after struggling to shoot during the first half of the 2012 NCAA championship game...

A panel of Associated Press sports writers voted in March 2020 on the top 10 men's basketball games in the history of the NCAA Tournament. They are being republished because the sport has been shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Duke-Kentucky game on March 28, 1992, was voted No. 2 and the following story was sent that night...

Saturday was supposed to mark the beginning of a new Swedish soccer season, fuelled by the prospect of big broadcasting revenues from a new domestic TV deal and expectations of another tight title race to match last year's dramatic finale. Then, in two months' time, Sweden's national team was supposed to be playing in the European Championship, with confidence high two years after a run to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 1994...

MADRID (AP) - The Spanish league and players are still far apart on the size of the salary cuts they need to take to help reduce the financial impact caused by the coronavirus outbreak, with the footballers saying the organization wants them to carry nearly half the total losses...

CHELTENHAM, England (AP) - Cheltenham Festival organizers have defended their decision to go ahead with the meeting last month after fears were raised that the mass gathering of people for the annual horse racing event helped to spread the coronavirus more widely around Britain...

April 5 1915 - Jess Willard beats Jack Johnson in the 26th round to win the world heavyweight boxing title in Havana. 1927 - Johnny Weissmuller breaks his 200-meter freestyle record by seven seconds in 2:08. He also lowers his own record in the 100-yard freestyle to 51 seconds, a record that stood for 17 years...

TBA - Opening day, active rosters reduced to 26 players. June 3-4 - Owners meeting, New York. June 10-July 20 - Amateur draft starts. June 15 - International amateur signing period closes. July 2-Jan. 15 - International amateur signing period opens...

(All dates set before season was suspended until further notice.) April 4 - Regular season ends. April 8 - Stanley Cup playoffs begin. May 8-24 - IIHF World Championship, Zurich/Lausanne, Switzerland, ccd. June 1-6 - NHL scouting combine, Buffalo, N.Y., ppd...

(All dates set before season was suspended until further notice) April 15 - Regular season ends. April 18 - Playoffs begin. May 19 - Draft lottery, Chicago. May 21-24 - Draft combine, Chicago. June 4 - NBA Finals begin. June 25 - NBA draft. ------ More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/tag/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP--Sports...

April 17 - Deadline for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets. April 23-25 - NFL draft, remote locations. May 19, 2020 - Spring owners meeting, Marina del Rey, Calif. Late July - Training camps scheduled to open. Aug. 6 - Hall of Fame game, Canton, Ohio...

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) - Serbia soccer player Aleksandar Prijovic has been arrested for flouting the curfew imposed to curb the coronavirus spread. A police statement said on Saturday that Prijovic and 19 others had gathered at a hotel in Belgrade, violating the country's 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. lockdown orders...

Days after the NFL revealed its hopes of conducting a normal regular season and playoffs, its chief medical officer warns that nothing is a certainty during the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Allen Sills, a neurosurgeon who has been with the NFL since 2017, says he and other league and team medical personnel have been in constant communication with health officials throughout the country, looking at the same data they are using to make public recommendations. ...

NEW YORK (AP) - The WNBA indefinitely delayed the start of training camps and the season because of the coronavirus pandemic. Training camps were to open April 26 and the regular season May 15. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the league will "use this time to conduct scenario-planning regarding new start dates and innovative formats."...

NEW YORK (AP) - A hacker posted a racial slur hundreds of times in an online fan video chat Friday with a black New York Rangers prospect. The NHL team scrambled to disable the hacker on the Zoom chat with K'Andre Miller, the 20-year-old former Wisconsin defenseman drafted No. 22 overall in 2018...

NEW YORK (AP) - A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by fantasy sports contestants who claimed they were damaged by sign stealing in Major League Baseball. Five men had sued MLB, MLB Advanced Media, the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox in federal court in Manhattan, claiming fraud, violation of consumer-protection laws, negligence, unjust enrichment and deceptive trade practices by teams that violated MLB's rules against the use of electronics to steal catchers' signs...

NEW YORK (AP) - The WNBA season will not start on time next month because of the coronavirus pandemic, and when it begins is unclear. The league announced Friday it will delay the season for an indefinite period. Training camps were to open on April 26 and the regular season on May 15...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Emmitt Peters Sr., an Alaska Native who won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race as a rookie in 1975, has died at age 79 in his home village of Ruby. Peters died Thursday of natural causes, Alaska State Troopers said. "He's going to be sorely missed," Iditarod spokesman Chas St. George said...

WrestleMania planned for Gronk Gone Wild. Rob Gronkowski is set to host WWE's signature show. But the frivolity -- and perhaps the physicality if a wrestler dare gets in the retired New England Patriots star's face -- is now playing strictly to an audience of TV and streaming media viewers...

CINCINNATI (AP) - "People ask me what I do in winter when there is no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby (1896-1963), baseball Hall of Famer ------ Updating my brackets, I looked forward to a dream second-round game: the 1919 Chicago White Sox against the 1976 Cincinnati Reds. The two greatest players ever banned because of betting scandals, Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose, on the same field!...

The attorney representing retired NFL players alleges the players' union stonewalled his clients when confronted with questions whether their Social Security disability payments would be affected before the labor agreement with the league was narrowly ratified last month...

Donna Houston knew her husband's mind was deteriorating when the college football Hall of Famer and Cleveland Browns All-Pro known as "Mr. Dependable" struggled to manage his money. A two-way player who won titles in high school, college and the pros, Jim Houston had easily transitioned into the business world when his football career was over. He sold life insurance. Handled securities. Ran a local machine company. Co-owned a gas station and car wash. And by 1998, he was broke...